Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening walkthrough/M09

As you start the mission, the camera pans out across The Rotating Bridge, indicating that you need to reach the other side. You have to find the power source for the bridge to turn it, though, so run across the existing path and enter the Provisions Storeroom. Taking a few steps will cause the door to seal and a new demon, the Arachne, to appear. These spiders have a hefty amount of health and are very difficult to knock off-balance, but thankfully are weak to Agni & Rudra. Their two primary attacks – a mad dash, and swiping at close range with their claws – are preceded by loud screeches and can be avoided by using Air Hike or a decently-timed side roll. They are also capable of trapping you with a shot of webbing, but the attack takes a few seconds to execute and is easy to recognize: their abdomens curl forward and begin to bulge. A well timed jump or side roll will do the trick for this too. Beware when an Arachne dies, though; if it rears up and splits in half, a cluster of baby Arachnes will appear where it died, and they are capable of jumping onto you and exploding to inflict minor damage. A second wave of Arachne will appear after you kill the first; after you defeat them too, the door to the Subterranean Garden will unseal.

There's an alcove to the right of the waterfall beside the Divinity Statue here that contains a Blue Orb Fragment. Reaching it requires Air Hike, level 2 Trickster and Ebony & Ivory; do a full jump (press and hold the jump button until Dante no longer gains altitude) or a Wall Hike and a full Air Hike, then fire your handguns ONCE (this boosts your altitude by a small bit) and immediately use Sky Star into the alcove. It may take a few tries to reach it. At the far end of the map is the puzzle that unlocks the sealed door: a series of mirrors reflect a beam of light around and you must destroy certain mirrors so that the beam is redirected into the statue at the bottom. Hit the bottom middle and upper left mirrors (so that the light forms a backwards 4) to solve the light puzzle and proceed to the Subground Water Vein. Stand on top of the sign to reveal a hidden Red Orb cache.

Enigmas are scattered along this U-shaped map but you can ignore them and run to the other end of the U. Side rolls work well for dodging the ones at the top of the incline, and the one at the bottom of the ramp (if you haven't shot it to death while standing at the door you entered from) usually has a hard time hitting you because of your movement angle. Take the door to the first Rounded Pathway, where some optional demons (including a Hell Greed) lurk. The spinning columns on the walls will damage you and knock you over if you touch them, so stay toward the center of the path and jump over the demons instead. The Subterranean Lake is through the opposite door.

Jump over the broken wall to the right to find a collection of Red Orbs, and jump onto the second floor by standing on the wall to reach more Red Orbs as well as a floating Green Orb, then head toward the main portion of the map. Head into the door beside the Divinity Statue to reach the second Rounded Pathway. An Enigma is past the first set of spinning columns; you can hide in the corner right in front of it to wait for a safe moment to strike. Another Enigma is just a little further down, and you can take cover in the same way behind the nearest wall. Grab the two Red Orbs that are in the two upper corners near the end of the hallway before entering the second Provisions Storeroom.

Here you'll find the key item Ambrosia resting on a small altar. Taking it will spawn two waves of Arachnes. Defeat them to unseal the door, then start backtracking. The Enigmas, at this angle, won't fire at you until they're visible on camera, which makes taking them out easier. Back at the Subterranean Lake, run to the left, past the waterfall, and jump up onto the pillars to collect the orbs. From there, jump onto the second floor area, where you can find the gun Spiral on a stone pedestal. This gun is long-range and has high damage that incurs knockback on most lesser demons; furthermore, its shots will pierce through all targets in its path until it hits a solid surface. Also nearby is a Combat Adjudicator with purple flames, but you can't break this until the next mission. Use the Divinity Statue to adjust your arsenal if you wish, for a boss fight awaits a few maps away.

Head into the waterfall now to reach the Limestone Cavern. A variety of Hells (Prides, Gluttonies, Lusts, Sloths, varies by difficulty), or a swarm of Blood-goyles on harder difficulties, populates this map. They're optional, though. Turn your attention instead to an opening across from the cave entrance. There are several glowing crystals here, marking the Secret Mission "Destroyer", where you must destroy all breakables in the Bullseye map. If you go further down, you'll drop down among the lesser demons. Head to the left to find some Red Orbs and a Devil Star hidden away in a smaller cavern. Jump back up, then head toward the far side of the map where a bridge leads to a door. Examine it to unlock it using the Ambrosia, then enter the Sunken Opera House and prepare to fight the boss Nevan.

First playthrough

 * Nevan is weak to Cerberus' ice element, but this fight can still be tedious because she doesn't take damage until you destroy her bat shield (how much of it left is signified by how tall her “dress” of bats is). Firing at it from a safe distance takes too long; it's much quicker to get up close and use your Devil Arms to destroy it (Aerial Cross and Helm Breaker work well for this).


 * Nevan has a variety of attacks (all of which are telegraphed well in advance):


 * If you stand too close to her, she'll respond with a stationary whirling attack preceded by “Get ready...”. You only need to move away about the distance of a single Dash (or a full backflip) and it won't hit you, and you can shoot her or charge moves (such as Drive and Crystal) while she's spinning.


 * She can fire lightning-charged bats at you in two varieties – the first fires several separate groups of bats, preceded by “How's this?” and the second fires one large swarm that moves more quickly (“Don't you like me?”). Both can be avoided by a decently timed jump to one side.


 * Sometimes she'll follow the bats by floating right up to you and do a backwards flip-kick, sending a few waves of darkness at you. The attack is relatively slow and is readily avoided by simply running around her. Sometimes she follows this attack by a bout of laughing, giving you time to break her shield.


 * She's capable of disappearing and rematerializing at either end of the map (she'll appear on the side you're farthest from); she'll then cackle as the ground crackles a bit with electricity, then floods with an electric charge. You can jump over the burst and hover with your guns or Swordmaster aerials if needed, but the raised platforms on either side of the map, given that Nevan isn't on the side you choose, are safe to stand on (though the bigger set of steps near the stage area are safe even if Nevan is on that side, so long as you aren't standing too close to her).


 * She typically follows the ground-charge attack with a series of lightning bolt attacks from where she stands. They come in horizontal and vertical bolts and are preceded by “Are you enjoying yourself?” They move in straight lines toward you when Nevan conjures the bolts, so avoiding them is as easy as running from left to right between castings.


 * When her health is less than 25% remaining, she may disappear and rematerialize in the middle of the map and break her own shield. To further telegraph this attack, she'll say, “You can't escape!”. She floats up to you and latches on via a kiss, then proceeds to drain your health to fill hers. When you see her begin this attack, you can simply activate Devil Trigger to prevent her from even grabbing you, then just pound away at her while she's helpless. If you don't have enough runes, you can also jump over her as she approaches, then begin attacking.

To kill her faster, stand close to Nevan until she says "Get ready..." and dodge her attack after that. Keep using Crystal and Million Carats when she whirls. Then, when she stop whirling, use that opportunity to destroy her "dress" and she will fell to the ground. That is also your chance to damage her. Watch out for the darkness beneath her when she fell. That darkness will damage anyone in its radius but this attack is slow. After 3.5 seconds, Dash or run away from the darkness so that it won't damage you. Repeat this procedure.

Second Playthrough

 * Swordmaster + Beowulf. Real Impact will destroy her shield in one hit and as long as you start the move relatively early, it'll connect and stop her whirling attack just in time. Nevan also happens to be weak to Beowulf; with these two new advantages, the fight is sped up considerably. If you're quick, you can actually lock her in a loop: Break her shield, attack her until she escapes (remember that she runs to the farther side of the operahouse), then repeat the process either until you down her, or until she breaks from the loop (usually when she's at very low health, so just let her attempt to vampire you for an attack opening). Also, the Quicksilver Style is really helpful here. When her bat shield is destroyed, simply cast Time Lag then then lay the smackdown on Nevan when she's helpless. This way, you can deal massive damage to her and defeat her in a few tries.

Grab the orbs that Nevan drops after Dante rocks out, and head through the second opera house door (the one you came in from is sealed) to end the mission.